China’s biggest tech companies and start-ups used the 2026 CMG Spring Festival Gala, the world’s most-watched entertainment broadcast, to push their brands, products, and industrial ambitions before hundreds of millions of viewers, reports South China Morning Post. The annual gala, broadcast on China Central Television (CCTV) on Lunar New Year’s Eve, has become a high-stakes marketing platform for tech firms seeking national reach and cultural relevance.
Humanoid robots from Chinese start-ups took center stage in the gala’s opening segments. Companies including Unitree, Magiclab, Galbot, and Noetix paid significant partnership fees, reportedly around 100 million yuan (about US$14 million), to place their robots in comedy sketches, acrobatic martial-arts demonstrations, and musical performances. The viral success of robot performances last year helped turn humanoids into mainstream icons and gave the sector rare nationwide visibility.
The gala’s role as a marketing gold mine extends beyond robotics. Established tech giants such as ByteDance secured exclusive AI-cloud sponsorships, while rivals including Tencent and Baidu launched huge “digital red packet” promotions tied to their AI chatbots and apps in the weeks before the broadcast. Those campaigns involved giveaways of billions of yuan in cash and digital prizes as part of Lunar New Year traditions, blending culture with digital engagement.
This convergence of entertainment, industrial policy, and tech competition reflects broader trends in China’s AI and hardware landscape. The gala offers a rare chance for companies to reach virtually every household in the country, making it a strategic battleground for brand exposure during the Chinese New Year period.
Industry observers see the spectacle as part of a larger push by Chinese tech to define the narrative around AI and robotics domestically and, increasingly, on the global stage.